Argentina: The Great Escape

It certainly was a great escape.  An escape from serious injury and an escape from daily stress as we rest and recuperate in the quiet secluded town of Chos Malal, helped along by the calm and caring Doctors E & M. The temperature outside reaches above 35⁰ but we are cooled by a breeze through their typical Argentinian square flat house and shaded by the waving poplar trees in the garden.

B’s chest is sore, fractured ribs diagnosed clinically, and my right knee got a bit of a pounding. In between drug-induced sleeps we wash our clothes and bags and inspect the bike.

The windscreen got flattened, scratched and the mounting bolts, which got torn out, are replaced with cable ties. The righthand spotlight bracket got bent and the front box has a broken hinge and gravel rash.  We lost one ‘deer whistle’. The righthand indicator broke, and now has a splint of wood and duct tape bandage. The master cyclinder clamp  snapped but luckily is held in place by the ScottOiler bracket. Altogether, a very lucky escape considering the bike inverted and landed on its seat, wheels pointing skywards. My right boot almost lost its sole, but a trip into town to buy contact adhesive and with some powerful strapping until the glue set should do the trick. The right front slingover bag got ripped off its zipper. Dr E found us the shoe maker/repair man in town who sewed it back on.

The crash occurred last Monday, so we are hoping to leave within the week. The washing is done, the bags are clean and re-packed, with the excess baggage ready to be posted to Lima, where we will collect it when we fly back to France. Before our departure, the attending Consultant wants another blood/urine/xray check so we take the bike for a ride downtown to the hospital where the necessary tests are carried out. There is still no fracture showing on the xray, however blood/urine test have returned to normal.  Minimal displacement shows up at the Acromio-Clavicluar joint space and prodding on the sore spot indicates that clinically the ribs are fractured. The Doctor prescribes anti-inflammatory medication for another week and advises AGAINST departure. Our excess baggage weighs in at 10kgs and the P.O. can only send a maximum of 2kgs. We decide that the bike must just carry it to Lima.

On our excursion into town we buy some near-equivalent spices to treat our hosts/friends to a typical South African Bobotie dinner. We conjure and cook up the evening meal early on Sunday morning, leaving it to settle and mature for the day. A Sunday afternoon/farewell outing has been planned and our lovely friends take us for a drive into the Argentinian mountains across the valley, through stunning scenery to a fabulous local restaurant where we have typical empanadas (mini Cornish pasties filled with meat or cheese or chicken or veges).  The restaurant owner surprises us with some huge beef ribs from the BBQ. It has been a wonderful day, being driven around, swopping stories, seeing the mountain peaks of La Corona and coming home to a Bobotie dinner. On Day 7, To test B’s energy and strength up we stroll into town, which is not so good, so the departure is delayed. We visit the museum, buy some socks and wander back up the hill: a total of 24 blocks. The shops close by midday and open again at 17h30, so afternoons are reserved for Siestas.

Feeling the need to escape from chamber-maid duties, I walk into town in search of an art supply store, there’s enough time to do some painting as the departure date is moved on and while B recovers. On Day 9, B had an almighty Sneeze, and the pain was so excruciating, he could not even walk. With lots of grimacing and grunting we got him into the car to go back to the hospital, where the xray now revealed 2, possibly 3, definite fracture and displaced ribs. That sneeze was literally the final straw that pulled the ribs apart at the fracture site. Another drip, different pain killers and confined to ‘minimal activity for 14 days’. We are not going anywhere! I carry on painting while B sleeps on and on. The painting develops into a representation of our wonderful trip through Argentina, with a South African flavour. Only four colours are purchased, primary Red, Blue and Yellow, with a pot of White, a canvas and a small brush. I find the large brush (that B used to degrease the bike with in Mendoza) and spend hours and hours under the poplars escaping into another world. 30 years of memories get compressed into a tiny Table Mountain tableau on the left side joined by blue Atlantic Ocean waters to La Corona and the White Cross on the hill above Chos Malal on the left. The colours of Argentina and the Karoo merge as do our paths. Another hike into town around 30 more blocks and I find a little pot of acrylic varnish to seal the imaginary world onto the canvas.

We offer to doggie-sit while our hosts/friends go on a weekend shopping excursion to Chile, across the border about 5 hours by car. A perfect opportunity for me to escape from this confinement by  crocheting a blanket for their baby, due in June. I chose colours that we saw at the markets stalls in the north of Argentina and happily crochet away in front of Netflix. At 2hours a movie, from 9am till midnight, I watch at least 7 movies a day, for 4 days. That’s a lot of movies! Julia Roberts, Jennifer Arniston, Diane Keaton, Pierce Brosnan, Jack Nicholson, and Billy Connolly entertain me for hours and hours. By the time our friends arrive back I am square-eyed, the blanket is finished and we tuck into an English Cottage pie. Granny-to-be has arrived from the East coast and the little house is now bulging with 5 adults and 1 baby-bump, all our luggage, plus goodies from the shopping trip to Chile.   

It’s Day 5 of the new ‘minimal activity’ and we have received an instruction from the medical insurance that the bill is too small (92 euros) for them to settle directly with the hospital. We need to pay and send them the receipt for reimbursement. I trek into town, find the finance room and call on Dr E to help with the translation. It transpires that medical care in Argentina is free. The ‘bill’ sent to the insurance was a list of commodities used. If they can’t settle directly then there is no charge, because there are no facilities to issue an invoice, write a receipt, etc. So after a lovely meeting with the director and colleagues, lots of one cheek kisses and hand shaking, I invite them all to France as a way of saying ‘thank you’.  

Communication with Granny, G, is frustrating as we neither speak each others language enough. Dr E has a busy life translating every evening as we swop stories and get to know each other. G and her family are 100% Argentinian, speaking Spanish, although her blue eyes and blond hair tell of a different heritage. As this story is about escaping, its worth mentioning that she is 3^rd generation descendant from Germans fleeing during WW2. Her delicious ‘jam strudel dumpling stew’ is a tiny remnant of a recipe passed down and I shall attempt a repeat meal back in France.

By day 9 of the ‘minimal activity’, B can blow his nose painlessly. That is quite an achievement. Our grandchildren can testify that when Oupa blows his nose it is like an elephant trumpeting. Departure date is drawing nearer. We will have the house to ourselves again for a few days as Drs E & M and G are leaving for a holiday on the East coast where their home is. They will complete their 2 year compulsory Medical Residency just before baby is born. The obligatory medical residency ensures that the remote hospitals are supplied with competent staffing and in exchange the different needs of the remote outposts are met. A few days before we arrived, Dr E had been called to assist in a helicopter rescue in the Andes. The Gauchos take their goats and sheep high up for the summer grazing, sleeping in stone huts covered in woolly skins, and move about on horseback. A young lad had fallen off his horse and it had taken more than a day for someone to ride to the nearest town to summon help. And then another day for the helicopter to wait for daylight to then find the location and perform the rescue. The lad had broken his elbow. Dr E showed us some excellent footage and photos of the trip over the Andes to find the poor boy. Dr M is a GP and ‘works out in the field’. Dr E works in the hospital. They both also do a 24hours shift in A&E/ER and one twilight shift a week. G and I clean, shop and prepare supper, while B sleeps on and on.
It’s a sad farewell when they drive away for their very well deserved vacation and we are left behind. What wonderful people to share their home and life with us. We exchange gifts and receive a beautiful and authentic steel handcarved Gaucho knife in a leather sheath.

At last B is feeling better; it’s day 14 of ‘minimal activity’ and 22 days since the crash. B is determined that today is Departure Day. The bike is packed, we climb aboard and head south west to Chile. And we are riding through my painting, escaping to another adventure across the border.